Pain of Pleasure

Tempesta Gallery presents Pain of Pleasure, curated by Domenico de Chirico, a reflection on the paradox of pleasure as an ambivalent force — both generative and destructive — merging ecstasy and suffering. The exhibition investigates the limits of desire and its transformation into a bodily and sensory experience, where pleasure intertwines with pain to become a form of knowledge and presence. Through the languages of video, painting, and sculpture, Pain of Pleasure invites viewers to linger in a liminal space where opposites coexist and dissolve, restoring to the body its emotional and political dimension.

In Pain of Pleasure, pleasure is not understood as a mere gratifying experience but as a vital tension inhabiting the threshold between desire and pain. Following the logic of Lacanian jouissance, the exhibition explores what happens when desire turns into body, matter, and loss. Through video, painting, and sculpture, the works on view examine pleasure as embodied knowledge and vulnerability as a radical form of presence. The aesthetic experience becomes a liminal space where opposites meet and transform, opening a reflection on contemporary sensitivity. In a time marked by emotional anesthesia and the virtualization of the body, Pain of Pleasure invites us to rediscover pleasure and pain as essential, irreducible, and profoundly human experiences.